Oil-Tanker Rates Climb as Demand to Book Vessels Seen Gaining

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Charter rates for the largest oil
tankers hauling Middle East crude to Asia extended gains for a
fourth session amid speculation that demand to book the vessels
strengthened.

Hire costs for very large crude carriers on the benchmark
Saudi Arabia-to-Japan voyage rose 0.6 percent to 34.20 industry-standard Worldscale points, data from the London-based Baltic
Exchange showed today. Rates climbed to the highest since March
27.

The supply of supertankers available in the Persian Gulf
over the next four weeks declined by one to 76 ships, according
to an e-mailed note from Marex Spectron Group today. The tally
stood at 91 for the same period a month earlier. Charterers
“have been providing quite a bit of action” as more ships were
booked, said Kevin Sy, a Singapore-based freight-swaps broker at
the company.

“Activity was higher than normal despite holidays with
chartering interest across the board,” Oslo-based investment
bank RS Platou Markets AS said in an e-mailed report today.
“Rates could move higher if activity is maintained.”

Earnings on the benchmark route fell 0.3 percent to $1,499
a day, exchange data show. Returns were negative between March
28 and April 29, according to the exchange. Each of the tankers
can hold 2 million barrels of crude. The bourse’s assessments
don’t account for owners improving returns by securing cargoes
for return-leg voyages or reducing speed to burn less fuel.

The Worldscale system is a way of pricing oil cargoes on
thousands of trade routes. Each individual voyage’s flat rate,
expressed in dollars a ton, is set once a year. Today’s level
means hire costs on the benchmark route are 34.20 percent of the
nominal Worldscale rate for the voyage.

The biggest one-day change for crude oil tankers was for
ships hauling 70,000 ton cargoes to the U.S. Gulf from the
Caribbean, which rose 1.6 percent to 104.55 Worldscale points,
exchange data show. For ships moving refined fuels, the largest
move was for diesel shipments to Europe from the U.S. Gulf,
which rose 0.9 percent to 78.21 points.